How do you know if a stick of ram is compatable?

[Mr. tech]

I want to buy some new ram for my P4 2.8GHz pc.

I jsut want to make sure that the ram I buy from ebay will be compatable... One of them is called:

1GB PC2100 DDR266 DDR RAM

How will I know if it's compatable?

Cheers

 

[diabloII]

I want to buy some new ram for my P4 2.8GHz pc.

I jsut want to make sure that the ram I buy from ebay will be compatable... One of them is called:

1GB PC2100 DDR266 DDR RAM

How will I know if it's compatable?

Cheers

pc2100 is old crap, don't buy it

and plus, ram from ebay are generic; don't buy them (don't go cheap on ram)

how much can you spend on ram and what kind of motherboard are you using

it really depends on your motherboard, if it supports UP TO ddr333, get ddr333 ram, if it supports up to ddr400, get ddr400 ram

 

[gaara]

It'll probably be DDR400 or DDR533 methinks.

 

[Mr. tech]

It says it supports DDR400...

Is it even bad to buy it from ebay even if the ram is new? This for example:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=21897&item=6754434134&rd=1

I wouldn't want to spend anymore then $150 on some ram. I'm using a Gigabyte P4 Motherboard. Do you need more specs?

What ram woudl you recommend?

 

[gaara]

RAM speed should match FSB bus. If you have a 400MHz FSB you should be using DDR400. I'm a bit skeptical about buying stuff from ebay, used stuff is always a risk, and new stuff is often black market merchandise.

 

[Mr. tech]

Can't find an FSB anywhere but it says in the features ummary that it supports DDR400.

I'm pretty happy buying from ebay if there are a lot of good reviews for the seller.

 

[Mr. tech]

Oh, BTW, what PC would I need (E.g: PC3200)

And what are the items in bold:

Dual Channel PC3200 DDR Memory NR?

 

[diabloII]

as long as that ram is new, it's fine (ddr400 is what you want)

however it kinda looks opened

 

[Mr. tech]

Thanks. Yea I'll be very smart when it comes to buying.

One last thing though. What are the items in bold:

Dual Channel PC3200 DDR Memory NR

 

[gaara]

I'm taking a guess and saying that NR stands for non-registered. which is what you want. Dual channel simply means the two sticks have been "optimized" by the company and packaged and sold in two sticks to operate in a setup called dual channel, which is basically using two identical memory sticks in two channels.

CPU-Z will tell you your FSB speed by the way.